Legal Aid Asylum Appeals

Lord Falconer of Thoroton: On Friday 17 June I published the Government's response to the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee report on legal aid asylum appeals. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. It is also available on the Department for Constitutional Affairs website.

RAF: Command Headquarters

Lord Drayson: My right honourable friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Adam Ingram) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	In the 2004 Defence White Paper Delivering Security in a Changing World we referred to plans to collocate the strike and personnel and training command headquarters. This is part of a programme to create a modern, effective and efficient headquarters structure for the Royal Air Force.
	A study has been conducted into the potential for increasing efficiency and effectiveness of the two headquarters (currently based at RAF High Wycombe and RAF Innsworth) by rationalising and collocating them on a single site. This work was undertaken against the background of the reduction in size of the RAF from approximately 49,000 to 41,000 by 2008 announced on 21 July 2004 (Official Report, Commons, col. 348).
	A number of sites were evaluated, including RAF High Wycombe and RAF Innsworth, to determine their relative operational and financial benefits. The study concluded that RAF High Wycombe offers the best value for money and is operationally more effective. I have therefore decided that, subject to trades union consultation, High Wycombe should be the site of the collocated RAF headquarters.
	The study also showed that, as a result of collocation, the headquarters will require some 1,000 fewer posts (500 service, 500 civilian) than the two current organisations. These reductions will contribute to the previously announced wider MoD manpower drawdown. Some 1,350 headquarters posts (600 service and 750 civilian) will be lost from RAF Innsworth. Personnel numbers at RAF High Wycombe will increase from some 2,050 posts now (1,540 service and 510 civilian) to around 2,150 (1,400 service and 750 civilian) by 2008. A number of posts currently based at High Wycombe will move to other RAF units.
	The target date for standing up the collocated headquarters is October 2006. However, in view of its role in managing the overall drawdown in RAF numbers, the Personnel Management Agency will not relocate to High Wycombe until April 2008.
	Part of the RAF Innsworth site is occupied by elements of the Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency (AFPAA) currently employing some 540 staff, including contractors. I expect the agency's presence at Innsworth to continue until mid 2008, during which time internal rationalisation unconnected with this announcement will have reduced the number of posts concerned to around 260 (including 170 MoD civilians and 70 contractor staff). The future location of this part of AFPAA is being examined. Unless another defence use is found for the Innsworth site, it will be disposed of once AFPAA relocates.
	The 200 support staff posts (110 service, 90 civilian) on the site will reduce in line with the overall drawdown.
	I recognise that this announcement will cause disappointment in the Innsworth area. However, I have to make the best decision for defence as a whole. We are doing everything possible to mitigate the impact on the staff concerned. Our current plans envisage that the civilian reductions, most of which will take place in the Gloucester area, will be achieved through a combination of natural wastage and voluntary early release. If we are obliged to resort to compulsory redundancies, we will endeavour to keep them to a minimum. Staff and the trades unions are being kept fully informed of developments through meetings, briefings and a formal consultation exercise.

Defence Estates: Key Targets 2005–06

Lord Drayson: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Don Touhig) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	I have set out the following key targets for 2005–06 for Defence Estates, as laid out in the agency's corporate plan 2005–10.
	Key Target 1
	To improve the defence estate in a sustainable manner to improve its fitness for purpose and condition by:
	delivering 2,500 single living accommodation grade one bedspaces under Project SLAM, reporting on the provision of 5,300 bedspaces under parallel projects and delivering 600 upgraded service families accommodation properties by 31 March 2006;
	developing integrated estate management plans, in conjunction with customers, as a baseline for measuring improvements to target condition of assets;
	ensuring that 75 per cent of MoD sites of special scientific interest in the UK meet the criteria for satisfactory condition by 31 March 2006; and
	achieving 80 per cent of a basket of sustainable development in government targets against a 2004–05 baseline by 31 March 2006.
	Key Target 2
	To provide an estate of the right size through the consolidation of assets by:
	providing an estate of the right size, through the implementation of estate rationalisation plan projects; and
	achieving accrued estate disposal receipts of £250 million by 31 March 2006.
	Key Target 3 
	To improve customer satisfaction and service delivery by:
	achieving 90 per cent of customer supplier agreement targets by 31 March 2006; and
	developing a new and robust customer satisfaction survey for occupants of service families' accommodation.
	Key Target 4
	Achieve key milestones for implementation of key MoD change initiatives by:
	awarding the regional prime contract (central) by September 2005 and regional prime contract (east) by October 2005;
	implementing the changes in estate working practices in Northern Ireland and the other residual areas required as a result of the Alexander study; and
	implementing the UK elements of the defence training estate rationalisation study by 31 March 2006.
	Key Target 5
	Deliver value for money efficiencies by:
	demonstrating 3 per cent through-life value for money output efficiencies in prime contracts, against the 2004–05 baseline, by 31 March 2006;
	deliver output efficiencies against Project SLAM of £5.04 million by 31 March 2006;
	deliver output efficiencies against Project Aquatrine to the value of £11.04 million by 31 March 2006;
	deliver savings from the introduction of housing prime and the restructuring of defence housing of £9.1 million by 31 March 2006; and
	reduce the management margin of vacant housing to 10 per cent by November 2005.
	I have placed a copy of the new defence estates corporate plan in the Library of the House.

National Standardisation Strategic Framework

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: I am pleased to announce that the benefits of standards to UK business, innovation and the wider economy can be quantified for the first time. A programme of studies commissioned by the National Standardisation Strategic Framework (NSSF), have brought together the analysis of findings from the University of Surrey, Nottingham University Business School and the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research in Germany. The principal findings of the report show that:
	formal standards contribute £2.5 billion to the growth of the UK economy annually as a means of spreading knowledge and technology;
	through this role, since 1948 the benefit of formal standards to UK GDP exceeds £75 billion;
	standards enable 13 per cent of the growth in labour productivity; and
	standards are emphasised as an enabler of innovation.
	The report can be found on www.dti.gov.uk/iese/The–Empirical–Economics–of–Standards.pdf and hard copies will be made available in the parliamentary Libraries.
	The National Standardisation Strategic Framework (NSSF) was developed by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the British Standards Institution (BSI) and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) to provide a platform for increasing the awareness, use and understanding of standards and standardisation in the UK.
	This research quantifies the impact of standards on the success of UK business of all types.
	As the national standards body for the UK, the British Standards Institution plays an important role in enabling innovation and technology transfer within national and international markets. This creation of synergies is found to accelerate the speed to market of products and services which allows businesses to keep ahead of the game in an ever-changing marketplace.
	For many years business opinion has tended to divide regarding the genuine impact of standards. While many firms have embraced standards as a valuable tool for strategic management, others argue that their presence has acted as a halt on business freedom and competitiveness.
	For that reason I commend to Parliament this research and urge UK industry to make business standards a boardroom issue in order to provide tangible assurances of progress across all aspects of commerce.

Smoking in Public Places

Lord Warner: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health (Caroline Flint) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement today.
	The Queen's Speech announced that legislation to restrict smoking in enclosed public places will be introduced as part of the Health Improvement and Protection Bill during this parliamentary Session.
	A consultation paper is to be published today on the smoke-free elements of the Health Improvement and Protection Bill. This will begin a public consultation, which will run until 5 September.
	This is an England and Wales Bill, but the provisions described in detail in the consultation document apply to England only. In relation to Wales, it is proposed that the Welsh Assembly should be enabled under the terms of the Bill to make provision for smoke-free public places in accordance with the policy that they may determine in relation to this issue.
	Copies of the consultation paper have been placed in the Library.